Bianca learns to Beat It
An eighth-grade teenager shows how funky and strong her fight against a four-letter word is. Mia Malan reports.
‘The people told me they are coming to take me away tonight’
Where traditional beliefs are more real than textbooks, treating mental illness is a balancing act for sangomas and medical doctors alike.
Life on a hotter earth: Depression, drought & decolonising mental health
As the climate crisis worsens, arid parts of South Africa are expected to get even hotter and even more water-scarce. In Australia, drought’s taken...
Gauteng mental health services: ‘They treated him like you don’t even treat a dog’
A decision by the Gauteng department of health has left at least 36 dead but has the scandal lifted the lid on the horrors of mental healthcare?
Afraid of death? Take comfort that you’ll live on in varied and surprising ways
Most of us would rather not know what happens to our bodies after death. But that breakdown gives birth to new life in unexpected ways.
Why COVID school closures are making girls marry early
The pandemic’s impact is long-term: the UN warns that it could lead to 13 million more child marriages over a decade.
‘I saw the world through the blurry lens of an oxygen tent’
With the severe effects of the habit on the unborn child now widely known, why do pregnant mothers refuse to give up?
Women of the Maasai fight back for their daughters
Girls as young as 10 feel the blade but an extraordinary group is fighting against female genital mutilation (FGM).
Waiting to disappear: The danger of being too pale
Ikponwosa Ero went from a child who felt different to the United Nations’ first independent expert on albinism.
Why science could finally be close to solving this birth control riddle
We could be just months away from knowing whether Depo-Provera use is linked to a higher risk of HIV infection in women.
This disposable piece of technology might save your life – if you can afford...
Many diabetics are dependent on expensive blood sugar testing strips to stay alive. Most in South Africa can't afford it.
‘Cancer I could deal with. Losing my breast I could not.’
For those with breast cancer, a mastectomy may seem like the best option. But Joanna Moorhead is glad she chose less extensive surgery.
Is today’s ukuthwala a perversion of an earlier tradition?
The kidnapping of young girls ignores the 'niceties' of a cultural practice.
Old birth rites, new ways
When bringing a new life into the world risks taking another, even old traditions have to adopt new ways.
‘I was married to a Boko Haram’: What happens when a victim returns to...
Eighty two of the Chibok school girls, kidnapped by Boko Haram in Nigeria three years ago, have been released. But what now?
The rural doctor who came home to serve his people in their own language
This doctor returned to his home town to live, love and heal.